# 2023–24 Virginia Tech Hokies women's basketball team

The 2023–24 Virginia Tech Hokies women's basketball team represented Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Hokies were led by eighth-year head coach Kenny Brooks and played their home games at Cassell Coliseum as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Hokies started the season ranked number 8 and with a win against High Point before a matchup with number 3 Iowa. The game was a close one, but the Hokies fell 76–80. They went off a four game winning streak and were Cayman Islands Classic champions. Their only other non-conference loss came at number 7 LSU in the ACC–SEC Challenge. The Hokies finished their non-conference regular season 9–2. They opened the ACC regular season with four straight wins, including over number 3 NC State. The Hokies then went on a two game losing streak before winning their next ten straight games. Their ten game winning streak included wins over number 22 Syracuse, number 24 North Carolina, number 3 NC State, and number 18 Louisville. They reached their season high in the rankings, number 5, before losing their last two games to number 17 Notre Dame and their rivalry game against Virginia. After the season, Elizabeth Kitley was named ACC player of the year, for the third year in a row.
The Hokies finished the season 25–8 overall and 14–4 in ACC play to finish as regular season champions. As the first seed in the ACC tournament, they earned a bye into the Quarterfinals where they defeated ninth seed Miami before losing to eventual champions Notre Dame. They received an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament, marking the fourth straight time the Hokies qualified for the tournament. As the fourth seed in the Portland 3 they defeated thirteenth seed Marshall in the First Round before losing to fifth seed Baylor in the Second Round to end their season. After the loss, head coach Kenny Brooks announced that he was stepping down from the team in order to accept the head coaching position at Kentucky.

## Previous season

The Hokies finished the season 31–5 overall and 14–4 in ACC play to finish in a tie for second place. As the third seed in the ACC tournament, they defeated sixth seed Miami in the Quarterfinals, second seed Duke in the Semifinals and fourth seed Louisville in the Final to win the title. The ACC Tournament title was the first in program history. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they were the first seed in the Seattle 3. They defeated sixteenth seed Chattanooga in the First Round, ninth seed South Dakota State in the Second Round, fourth seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16 and third seed Ohio State in the Elite Eight. In the Final Four they could not overcome third seed LSU, losing 72–79 to end their season. The Hokies' trips to the Elite Eight and Final Four were the first such trips in program history.

## Off-season
### Departures

Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Chloe Brooks | 3 | G | 5'10" | Senior | Harrisonburg, Virginia | Graduated |
| Charlise Dunn | 10 | G | 6'2" | Freshman | Victoria, Australia | Transferred to Davidson |
| D'asia Gregg | 11 | F | 6'2" | Senior | Florence, South Carolina | Graduated |
| Taylor Soule | 13 | F | 5'11" | Graduate Student | West Lebanon, New Hampshire | Graduated; Drafted 28th overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft |
| Maddie Vejsicky | 14 | G | 6'0" | Freshman | Newark, Ohio | Transferred to San Diego |
| Ashley Owusu | 15 | G | 6'0" | Senior | Woodbridge, Virginia | Transferred to Penn State |
| Kayana Traylor | 23 | G | 5'9" | Senior | Martinsville, Indiana | Graduated; Drafted 23rd overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft |
| Clara Ford | 32 | C | 6'3" | Graduate Student | Vienna, Virginia | Graduated |
| Taylor Geiman | 35 | G/F | 6'0" | Senior | Hanover, Pennsylvania | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

Incoming Transfers :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Rose Micheaux | 4 | F | 6'2" | Junior | Wayne, Michigan | Minnesota |
| Matilda Ekh | 11 | G/F | 6'0" | Junior | Västerås, Sweden | Michigan State |
| Olivia Summiel | 20 | G/F | 6'2" | Graduate Student | Dayville, Connecticut | Wake Forest |

### Recruiting Class

Source:
College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Carys Baker F | West Hartford, Connecticut | Loomis Chaffee | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 93 ||||||
| Mackenzie Nelson PG | Greenwich, Connecticut | St. Luke's | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 93 ||||||
| Samyah Suffren PG | Charlotte, North Carolina | Cannon School | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 93 ||||||
| Clara Strack F | Buffalo, New York | Hamburg | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 91 ||||||
| Gabby Brooks G | Harrisonburg, Virginia | Blacksburg | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | N/A |
| Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Schedule

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 6, 2023* 5:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 8 | High Point | W 94–55 | 1–0 | Cassell Coliseum (6,113) Blacksburg, VA |
| November 9, 2023* 8:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 8 | vs. No. 3 Iowa Ally Tipoff | L 76–80 | 1–1 | Spectrum Center (15,196) Charlotte, NC |
| November 16, 2023* 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 9 | Houston Christian | W 105–36 | 2–1 | Cassell Coliseum (4,226) Blacksburg, VA |
| November 20, 2023* 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 9 | UNC Greensboro | W 72–51 | 3–1 | Cassell Coliseum (4,154) Blacksburg, VA |
| November 24, 2023* 5:00 p.m., FloHoops | No. 9 | vs. Kansas Cayman Islands Classic | W 59–58 | 4–1 | John Gray Gymnasium (1,100) George Town, Cayman Islands |
| November 25, 2023* 11:00 a.m., FloHoops | No. 9 | vs. Tulane Cayman Islands Classic | W 76–70 | 5–1 | John Gray Gymnasium (500) George Town, Cayman Islands |
| November 30, 2023* 9:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 9 | at No. 7 LSU ACC–SEC Challenge | L 64–82 | 5–2 | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (10,790) Baton Rouge, LA |
| December 6, 2023* 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 15 | LIU | W 98–50 | 6–2 | Cassell Coliseum (3,849) Blacksburg, VA |
| December 10, 2023* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 15 | Radford | W 85–40 | 7–2 | Cassell Coliseum (5,062) Blacksburg, VA |
| December 17, 2023* 5:30 p.m., FS1 | No. 16 | at Rutgers | W 84–59 | 8–2 | Jersey Mike's Arena (4,731) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 21, 2023* 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 15 | William & Mary | W 76–43 | 9–2 | Cassell Coliseum (4,887) Blacksburg, VA |
| ACC regular season ||||||
| December 31, 2023 2:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 14 | Pittsburgh | W 91–41 | 10–2 (1–0) | Cassell Coliseum (6,078) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 4, 2024 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | at Wake Forest | W 82–73 | 11–2 (2–0) | LJVM Coliseum (1,303) Winston-Salem, NC |
| January 7, 2024 12:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 13 | No. 3 NC State | W 63–62 | 12–2 (3–0) | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 11, 2024 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 11 | Miami (FL) | W 76–52 | 13–2 (4–0) | Cassell Coliseum (4,672) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 14, 2024 1:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 11 | at No. 21 Florida State | L 81–89 | 13–3 (4–1) | Donald L. Tucker Center (3,044) Tallahassee, FL |
| January 18, 2024 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 14 | at Duke | L 46–63 | 13–4 (4–2) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (2,217) Durham, NC |
| January 21, 2024 12:00 p.m., The CW | No. 14 | Clemson | W 74–62 | 14–4 (5–2) | Cassell Coliseum (6,427) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 25, 2024 6:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 19 | Georgia Tech | W 87–69 | 15–4 (6–2) | Cassell Coliseum (4,971) Blacksburg, VA |
| January 28, 2024 12:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 19 | at No. 22 Syracuse | W 75–62 | 16–4 (7–2) | JMA Wireless Dome (6,003) Syracuse, NY |
| February 1, 2024 6:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 17 | Virginia Rivalry | W 76–63 | 17–4 (8–2) | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 4, 2024 12:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 17 | at No. 24 North Carolina | W 70–61 $^{OT}$ | 18–4 (9–2) | Carmichael Arena (5,618) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 8, 2024 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 16 | at No. 3 NC State | W 72–61 | 19–4 (10–2) | Reynolds Coliseum (5,500) Raleigh, NC |
| February 11, 2024 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 16 | Boston College | W 74–63 | 20–4 (11–2) | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 15, 2024 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 12 | Duke | W 61–56 | 21–4 (12–2) | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 18, 2024 1:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 12 | at No. 18 Louisville | W 86–70 | 22–4 (13–2) | KFC Yum! Center (12,249) Louisville, KY |
| February 25, 2024 2:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 8 | North Carolina | W 74–62 | 23–4 (14–2) | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 29, 2024 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 5 | at No. 17 Notre Dame | L 58–71 | 23–5 (14–3) | Purcell Pavilion (6,416) Notre Dame, IN |
| March 3, 2024 6:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 5 | at Virginia Rivalry | L 75–80 | 23–6 (14–4) | John Paul Jones Arena (11,975) Charlottesville, VA |
| ACC tournament ||||||
| March 8, 2024 1:30 p.m., ACCN | (1) No. 11 | vs. (9) Miami (FL) Quarterfinals | W 55–47 | 24–6 | Greensboro Coliseum (15,202) Greensboro, NC |
| March 9, 2024 12:00 p.m., ACCN | (1) No. 11 | vs. (4) No. 14 Notre Dame Semifinals | L 53–82 | 24–7 | Greensboro Coliseum (10,488) Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2024* 3:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (4 P3) No. 13 | (13 P3) Marshall First Round | W 92–49 | 25–7 | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| March 24, 2024* 8:00 p.m., ESPN | (4 P3) No. 13 | (5 P3) No. 19 Baylor Second Round | L 72–75 | 25–8 | Cassell Coliseum (8,925) Blacksburg, VA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. P3=Portland 3. All times are in Eastern. ||||||

## Rankings

Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |

## 2024 WNBA Draft

| Player | Team | Round | Pick # | Position |
| Elizabeth Kitley | Las Vegas Aces | 2 | 24 | C |